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Rogers

In late 1927, Oettinger’s (“The Dependable Store”) held a “co-worker’s sale,” in which employees received commissions on the sales of items they vouched for. A full page ad set out the names of dozens of employees, from corsetiere to bookkeeper to wrapper girl, touting store goods. Miss Eula Cram, for example, of the Millinery Department stood to gain from the sale of “a table of new hats.” Mr. G.H. Sullivan, the Floor Manager, noted that “Children’s jersey and silk dresses are most attractively reduced.” In the sixth and last column of the page, at the bottom, without honorifics, appear three final names. These were Oettinger’s African American employees.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: John Rodgers, 49, general laborer, and wife Mary, 38, at 555 [East] Nash Street.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 546 East Nash, John W. Rogers, 57, janitor at dry goods store; wife Mary R., 47; adopted son Leonard G., 7 (born in the West Indies to West Indian parents); and niece Ernestine Atkinson, 22.

Mary Elizabeth Rogers died 24 May 1950 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 16 April 1878 in Smithfield, N.C., to John Thomas; was married; resided at 546 East Nash Street; and was buried in Thomas cemetery, Johnston County. Informant was Wesley Rogers.

John Wesley Rogers died 19 December 1951 at his home at 546 East Nash Street, Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 12 May 1870 in Durham, N.C., to Charles Rogers; was a widower; had worked as a department store porter; and was buried in the Masonic cemetery. Earnestine Coley was informant.

The one hundred-seventh in a series of posts highlighting buildings inEast Wilson Historic District, a national historic district located in Wilson, North Carolina. As originally approved, the district encompasses 858 contributing buildings and two contributing structures in a historically African-American section of Wilson. (A significant number have since been lost.) The district was developed between about 1890 to 1940 and includes notable examples of Queen Anne, Bungalow/American Craftsman, and Shotgun-style architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

Wilson Daily Times, 12 April 1946.

As described in the nomination form for the East Wilson Historic District, 1100 East Nash Street: “ca. 1913; 2 stories; Sallie Barbour house; Queen Anne house with hip-roofed main block and front two-story wing; asphalt veneer; modernized porch; Barbour was noted schoolteacher whose name was given to the former black elementary school (Wilson Colored School) that once stood on Stantonsburg Road.” The house was demolished in the early 1990s.

Allison Parker died 27 January 1930. Per his death certificate, he was 75 years old; was born in Halifax County, North Carolina, to Hillard and Dianah Parker; was married to Mary Parker; lived at 1100 East Nash; and worked as a housecleaner. Cause of death: “heart attack probably died suddenly while sitting up in chair. Died before Doctor reached him.”

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1100 East Nash Street, Sallie Barber, 67, widowed public school teacher, and her sister Tiny Hill, 69, also a widowed teacher.

Sallie Minnie Barbour died 22 April 1942 at her home at 1100 East Nash Street, Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was 71 years old; was born in Wake County to Essex Blake and Clara Hodge; was a widow; and was a schoolteacher. Ardelia Nunn, 1100 East Nash, was informant.

In 1942, Alvin Sidney Nash registered for the World War II draft. Per his registration card, he was born 9 August 1900; lived at 1208 Woodard Avenue, Wilson; his contact was Rosa Nash Battle, 913 Washington Street; and he worked for W.T. Clark’s Tobacco Factory, Wilson.

This heavily modified shotgun house on Church Street is not located in the East Wilson Historic District. Nor was its single block included in the Wilson Central Business-Tobacco Warehouse District, though it lies just behind East Nash and Pettigrew Streets. Once densely packed with working-class housing, Church Street is now empty. Only three houses stand on the block, none occupied, and 507 is the last house remaining on the north side of the street.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 507 Church, renting for $12/month, laborer Will Rogers, 28, and wife Sally, 30, odd jobs. Both seemed to be Arkansas natives — he, from Pine Bluff, and she, from Fayetteville.

In the 1941 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Rogers William (c; Sallie) yd mn 507 Church

As the Central Business Historic District survey map shows, as recently as 1984, Church Street was filled with houses. 507 is encircled.

Google Maps shot this image of 507 Church in 2012. It appears that, at that time, the house was occupied.

In 1905, John W. Rogers bought, subject to $209.45 mortgage, all the goods necessary to furnish a billiard hall — two pool tables, balls, a cue rack, a ball rack, cues, triangles, etc. A handwritten notation along the edge of the entry shows that Rogers paid his note in full in June 1907 and owned the goods free and clear. [The 1908 Wilson city directory lists only one African-American-operated billiard room — Matthews Pool Room at 510 East Nash., which was managed by Eugene Matthews. Rogers, who lived at 555 East Nash, was described as a foreman in the directory.]

On 30 April 1938, the Pittsburgh Courier reported that three African-American Wilson women were facing fraud and misrepresentation charges connected with unemployment compensation applications. Though the details of their alleged crimes are not listed, the article notes that several others had recently been penalized after refusing employment in strawberry fields.

J.W. Rogers, 25, married Annie H. Blake, 21, on 21 September 1893. L.J. Melton, a Presbyterian minister, performed the ceremony at the Baptist church in the presence of David Pyatt, H. Bynum, and S.H. Vick.

J.W. Rogers — Per the city directory, in 1922, John Wesley Rogers lived at 548 East Nash Street and worked as a porter at Oettinger’s department store. His wife, a native of Johnston County, was Mary Elizabeth Thomas Rogers (1878-1950). Rogers was born in Durham County in 1870 and died in Wilson in 1951.

Mrs. Jasper Coley — Laura (or Laurena) V. Coley, daughter of Isaac and Penny Coley, married Jasper Allison Coley on 6 June 1912 in Wayne County. A native of Pikeville, Wayne County, like her husband, Laura died 12 May 1923. She was a teacher. Jasper Coley was the son of Phillip R. and Annie Exum Coley. He is listed in Wilson city directories in the early 1920s as a carpenter, a plasterer and a bricklayer, and lived at 401 North Vick Street.

Mrs. William Hines — Ethel Cornwell Hines (1894-1983) was a South Carolina native.

Mrs. Stattie Cannon — In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Charles Cannon, 35, barber in a “white shop”; wife Statie, 34; and children Charles, 11, Ruth, 9, and Statie Benton, 13. In the 1922 Wilson city directory, Stattie Cannon is listed as a dressmaker and Charles Cannon as a carpenter; both resided at 724 East Green Street. In the 1940 census of Newark, Essex County, New Jersey: Charles Cannon, 44, mother Stattie Cannon, 65, brother-in-law Fred Langford, 29, and sister Ruth Langford, 33. All were born in North Carolina and described as “white.”

A.N. Darden — Arthur N. Darden (1889-1948) was a son of Charles H. and Dinah Scarborough Darden and worked in his father’s undertaking business.

Mrs. S.L. Bowser — Burt Bowser, born in Halifax County, married Sarah Rountree, daughter of Peter and Lucinda Rountree, on 4 December 1888 in Wilson. Reddin S. Wilkins, A.J. Lindsay and JamesW. Parrington were witnesses to the ceremony. In the 1900 census, Burt L. Bowser is described as a bar tender and in 1910 as the conductor of a pool room. Sarah is described as a dressmaker. Burt Landers Bowser died in 1920; Sarah Bowser, in 1935.

John Spells — In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Pender Street, carpenter John E. Spell, 50, wife Martha A., 39, and son John E., Jr., 16. (John’s death certificate lists his middle name as Stephen.) Martha A. Spell, a native of Guilford County, died in Wilson in 1966.

Wesley Rogers — Per the city directory, in 1922, John Wesley Rogers lived at 548 East Nash Street and worked as a porter at Oettinger’s department store. His wife, a native of Johnston County, was Mary Elizabeth Thomas Rogers (1878-1950). Rogers was born in Durham County in 1870 and died in Wilson in 1951.

Deby Harper — Deborah Harper Swindell was the daughter of Argent Harper. She was briefly married to Louis Swindell.

Dr. and Mrs. J.B. Darden — Pharmacist James Benjamin Darden was a brother of Arthur and Camillus Darden. After a brief partnership with his brother John W. Darden, a doctor in Opelika, Alabama, he settled in Petersburg, Virginia.

Mrs. A.B. Bowser — Astor Burt Bowser, born 1896, was a son of Burt L. and Sarah L. Bowser, above. He married Deloris Harvey of Alamance County on 17 August 1921 in Wilson. Rev. B.P. Coward officiated. In the 1930 census, the couple and their children, Astor B., Jr., and Sarah, are listed in Chicago, Illinois. Astor worked as an artist in his own studio and Deloris as a saleslady in a millinery. Astor died in Hennepin County, Minnesota, in 1981.

In the 1870 census of Saratoga township, Wilson County, 80 year-old midwife Cherry Rogers is shown in the household of Watson and Rosa Stanton. Cherry and Rosa may have been the mother and half-sister named above.